Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-88161 is found as a prior art document disclosing a cutting method for cutting a mother block to form a plurality of chips. According to the cutting method disclosed in Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2005-88161, CCD (charge-coupled device) cameras are disposed so as to face each other such that both end faces of a mother block facing each other can be imaged. The CCD cameras are used to image cut traces formed on the end faces of the mother block, to correct positional misalignment of internal conductors caused by distortion of the mother block, and then, cut the mother block.
Within the mother block in which portions serving as chips are arranged in a matrix form, internal conductors are arranged at regular intervals in a matrix form for the sake of design. In fact, positional misalignment of the internal conductors resulting from distortion of the mother block is caused by influences of the positional accuracy in each of the process of stacking ceramic green sheets and the process of printing an internal conductor during production of the mother block. Furthermore, positional misalignment of the internal conductors resulting from distortion of the mother block is mainly caused by flow of ceramic green sheets in the press process in which the mother block is pressure-bonded.
When the mother block is cut based on the result of imaging both end faces of the mother block, positional misalignment of the internal conductors in the chip cut out from the center portion of the mother block that is at a distance from both end faces may not be suppressed depending on the distortion state of the mother block.